Chapter 9
Chapter 9 - A true servant of Christ
A true servant of Christ
In the meantime, he received an invitation from a missionary from America for doing a ministry in South India on his behalf. The missionary wanted him to work as his representative and promised to give Sunderapandian a bungalow, a van, very good salary, etc. After finding out God’s will, he declined the invitation, though he lived in penury. Afterwards, a servant of God from Kanyakumari extended an invitation to him for staying in the prayer house of the former for doing a ministry. Sunderapandian refused this also. He also received another invitation from somebody in Nilgris who offered a huge sum of money and wanted him to overseer some churches in Nilgris for which a motor bike was promised to him. Sunderapandian refused this as not in accordance with His will. He ultimately found that all these offers came to him just to separate him from Jesus Christ as he was facing a financial struggle.
The Lord revealed to him that many servants of God were doing their ministries focusing on money and without doing His will. And they lost their vision and calling and now pretended to be doing great ministries. The places where they were supposed to serve Him were vacant. God was grieved in His heart.
In the meantime, God willed to call home the first born baby of Sunderapandian. The Lord revealed this to him when he was praying in the church. When he returned home, the child was about to die. The child breathed its last when it was in his hands. Sunderapandian and his wife glorified God during this great calamity and buried their child. The joy that the Lord gave them even during trials like this never departed from them.
In those days, the Lord gave him a great thirst for sharing the burden in His heart with the churches that were growing. Sunderapandian shared the Lord’s message of burden in the churches. The Lord used to reveal to him His burden on a particular church and then would give His message to the church through him. The Lord would never cause any believer to die without revealing the same to Sunderapandian.
After some time, there arose some trouble in the churches due to the work of evil spirits. The Lord revealed to Sunderapandian that three kinds of evil spirits which came from the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet (Rev.16”13, 14) were working amongst the churches. They were the miracle-working evil spirits. The Lord also revealed to him the falsehood of worshipping the mother of Jesus in the catholic churches.
In his life, an evil spirit started working. That evil spirit began to influence his life by whispering into his ears the words, “Praise the Lord, Hallelujah”. Then evil thoughts came into his mind. He stopped praying. He then faced a lot of problems which were severer than those problems faced before him before conversion. He had weakness in his body, coupled with financial problems. The loved ones forsook him. His wife also became ill and started murmuring like a mad person. His children faced failures in their studies. He began to construct a house but could not complete it. The people started telling that due to the sins committed by him, he faced all these problems. One day, he could not bear all the problems and went to the forest for prayer. He had terrible pain in his chest and asked the Lord that if he could die, he could go to Heaven. Due to the fear of death, he began to worry about his wife and his two daughters. All of a sudden, a divine song came into his heart and he began to sing, “Oh, my heart is full of Your joy. Praise His holy Name. Those who trust the Lord will never be forsaken. My heart sings praises unto Him….”
The Lord used to manifest His presence to him when he was in deep trouble. He used to tell him, “A farmer knows that if the plant does not grow in the soil and becomes white in color, it needs manure. God’s servants like you should become the manure in such soils. If a person is to be used of God, he or she has to be sanctified”. The Lord revealed to him that without sanctification, many church leaders had fallen into the sins of fornication like Simpson. Just to become popular, they had lost their divine call, prophesied falsely and then died like the worldly people.
When some people were on the death bed, the Holy Spirit instructed him to go to their places and preach the gospel. Before their death, they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. He did not perform merely a healing ministry but a ministry that delivered people from their sins. He did not hesitate to tell people about their sinful lives. He told the people very clearly about the way of salvation. He yearned to see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. He ministered to the Hindu hermits (Sanyasins) who bore on their foreheads vermillion powder as a mark of respect to their idols. He used to tell them that such vermillion powder was likened to the Blood of Jesus Christ for their salvation. Some people attempted to kill him but God saved him from their hands.
He was anointed mightily by the Holy Spirit. When he walked on the road, the evil spirits who possessed the people screamed and fled. Sick people were healed through his ministry. One boy who was a cripple since birth was healed instantly through his ministry. Many murderers were convicted of their sins and repented.
His prayer life was very steady. He used to pray with a great burden, crying and weeping. After prayers, he felt very weak in his body due to exhaustion.
When he became weak in his body due to old age, he used to pray at home with tears.
He led his elder daughter, Rupavathi, to Christ when she was reading in 8th standard and younger daughter Elizabeth to Christ when she was reading in 5th standard.
Sunderapandian was not in good health for some years and during this period he ministered to others remaining in his house. He went to Chennai for taking treatment and then came back to his village. On 2-7-2003, he gave a message during the prayer meeting held in his house. Then he entered glory on 3-7-2003.